Mr. Quintron and Miss Pussycat are stars of New Orleans’ alternative entertainment scene. You’d expect to find the eccentric duo in some loud late-night club, Quintron hulking over the keyboards and howling into the microphone rock ’n’ roll style, with Miss Pussycat at his side, harmonizing and shaking the maracas, as a crowd of sweaty in-the-know fans cheers them on.

You probably wouldn’t expect to find the pair of scruffy luminaries sharing the hushed marble halls of the New Orleans Museum of Art with the likes of Bouguereau, Sargent and Degas. But that’s just where they’ll be Friday (Jan. 29) night, at the opening of the exhibit “Parallel Universe: Quintron and Miss Pussycat Live at City Park.”

Doug MacCash / The Times-PicayuneMiss Pussycat and Mr. Quintron make The New Orleans Museum of Art their own.

The leap from the subculture stage to the museum gallery isn’t quite as far as it may seem. After all, art has always been part of their act.

Doug MacCash / The Times-PicayunePuppet by Miss Pussycat

Miss Pussycat, who is also known as Panacea Theriac — though neither moniker is her birth name — said that as a kid in Antlers Oklahoma, she learned puppetry at the Christian Puppet Youth Ministry of the Baptist church. When she moved to New Orleans in the early 1990s, she became an underground celebrity for her charmingly folky hand-puppet performances and videos, featuring hand-made, cuddly fake-fur nutrias, yellow satin viruses with green and orange polka dots, and beyond-description bobble-eyed blobs.

Doug MacCash / The Times-PicayuneMr. Quintron

According to online sources, Quintron was born in Germany (where his father was stationed with the U.S. Air Force), in 1972, with the name Robert Rolston. Quintron, who does his best to maintain an aura of mystery, grew up mostly in St. Louis. At age 16, he said, he first began experimenting with unusual musical instruments, when he built a wrap-around “giant drum contraption” from a tree limb, scrap wood and garbage pale lids.

Over the years, he honed both his musical and inventing skills. His masterpiece is a fascinating, light-activated electronic instrument/constructivist sculpture he calls the Drum Buddy (pronounced as one word: drumbuddee), which he manufactures and sells. Imagine a beautifully crafted combination of phonograph, coffee can and disco ball, with colorful plumbing pipe details, lots of knobs and switches and an automotive ignition key. Quintron says that electronic music diva Laurie Anderson purchased a Drum Buddy.

Quintron, who moved to New Orleans in 1993, met Miss Pussycat near Gene’s Po-Boy shop on St. Claude Avenue that same year. His mad-scientist/rock star image apparently matched perfectly with her pixie-like puppeteer personae. They were soon romantic and professional partners. The pair has performed for experimental music fans across the country and around the world. Their most distant gig was in New Zealand.

Doug MacCash / The Times-PicayuneThere was a slight miscalculation as Quintron prepared to transport the newest version of his Drum Buddy to NOMA for the show. He’d cleverly conceived a sort of video arcade style Drum Buddy that will allow museum visitors to play the instrument without damaging it. The device, which he built in his house is a little bigger than a washing machine; which meant it’s a little too big to fit through the door. “I measured everything to the eighth inch,” he said. “but I didn’t measure the door.” After a little deconstruction and reconstruction, the interactive sculpture is in place at the museum, with other music-making machinery.

It was the idea of NOMA’s 28-year-old curator of contemporary art, Miranda Lash, to invite the outre couple inside the museum walls. “If there’s a new line to cross, I want to cross it,” Lash said of her efforts to push the envelope of museum programming.

And push the envelope she will. In addition to displays of puppets, musical sculpture and videos, “Parallel Universe” will include an unprecedented marathon residency. For the three-month run of the show, Quintron plans to punch a time clock like a regular museum employee. In the gallery, he’ll produce a new album, under the watchful eyes of passing visitors. And under the watchful eyes of the 19th century portraits (mostly of women) he’s chosen to line the walls. He says he may wear a special uniform on occasion.

Doug MacCash / The Times-PicayuneCurator Miranda Lash, crossing the line at NOMA

Quintron says he does not plan to adopt his anarchic stage personae while at the museum.“One could assume that me being in a museum would imply that I’m going to make some sort of disruptive anti-museum statement; that is not my intention whatsoever,” he said. “I am here to work.”

Are you a Quintron/Miss Pussycat fan? I think Quintron and Miss Pussycat sound a bit like the B-52s blended with a science fiction soundtrack -- or something like that. Leave a comment describing their music.